Syrian rights groups call on world to save town of Kobani from falling to Islamic State group

Smoke rises after strikes in Kobani, Syria as fighting intensifies between Syrian Kurds and the militants of Islamic State group, as seen from Mursitpinar on the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014. Kobani has been under the onslaught of the Islamic State group since mid-September when the militants’ launched their offensive in the area, capturing several Kurdish villages around the town and bringing Syria's civil war yet again to Turkey's doorstep. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
(The Associated Press)

Turkish Kurds, standing in Mursitpinar, on the outskirts of Suruc, on the Turkey-Syria border, watch over the border as the intensified fighting between militants of the Islamic State group and Kurdish forces in Kobani, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014. Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab and its surrounding areas have been under attack since mid-September, with militants capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
(The Associated Press)

Smoke rises after a strike in Kobani, Syria as fighting intensifies between Syrian Kurds and the militants of Islamic State group, as seen from Mursitpinar on the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014. Kobani has been under the onslaught of the Islamic State group since mid-September when the militants’ launched their offensive in the area, capturing several Kurdish villages around the town and bringing Syria's civil war yet again to Turkey's doorstep. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
(The Associated Press)

MURSITPINAR, Turkey – Several Syrian human rights groups have issued a dramatic appeal, calling on the world to save the embattled Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani from falling into the hands of the Islamic State group.

The appeal came as more fighting was underway on Wednesday in the town on the Syria-Turkish border. The town is also known under its Arabic name of Ayn Arab.

Seven rights groups, including the Kurdish Organization for Human Rights and the Human Rights Organization in Syria, say Islamic State group's onslaught on the town and the surrounding area, which began in mid-September, represents a "clear form of persecution and ethnic cleansing."

The groups say the fighting has displaced nearly 280,000 people who fled fearing "killings, executions, throat slitting, beheadings, mayhem and kidnaping of women and children."